Telecommunication exchanges, wireline as well as wireless exchanges, are equipped with a test position.
Typically, test position comprises an I/O device, an instrument box and a test phone.
The I/O device can be used to specify and retrieve details for the wanted test.
The instrument box can be used to connect measurement equipment and/or to receive or send tones, e.g. to generate in-band information.
The test phone can be a mobile or a fixed phone.
Typically, operators use the test position to check the call and routing analysis, to check the general speech quality, to check the performance and accessibility of specific resources by routing the call through these resources, and to monitor an ongoing call involving other parties to access the speech quality.
Such checks and analysis comprise an increasing value since premium services are offered typically along with certain warranted characteristics.
Traditionally, for the purposes stressed above the exchange needs to support PRA signaling (Primary Rate Access) towards the test phone.
However, in typical soft switch architecture, the exchange is split into one or more servers and one or more media gateways.
A server is responsible for call handling connecting to one or more media gateways, while the one or more media gateways are actually handling the payload data.
Typically, the servers are located centralized whilst the media gateways are located de-centralized.
By splitting up the architecture, it is now impossible to connect devices concerning payload data such as test phones and/or I/O devices towards the server unless the server provides extra hardware.
On the other hand although it would be possible to connect these devices towards a media gateway, the media gateway does not support call set-up and call control since these functionalities are shifted towards the server unless the media gateway provides extra hardware.
A present solution to this problem encompasses the use of a mobile phone as a test phone.
However, using a mobile phone leads to several limitations, making it a complement rather than replacement of a fixed test phone.
Such limitations include for example, that a mobile phone will only work when the radio network works, that the voice quality is limited to the voice quality of the mobile network, that the capabilities of the test phone are limited to the capabilities of the mobile phone, . . . .
Another solution used so far encompasses the use of a test phone in a remote exchange.
However, using a remote test phone leads to other disadvantages of which two are mentioned exemplary, i.e. that it is not possible to request certain resources to be used within a test call and that such remote test phones rely on the availability of the remote control.
Operators need a subjective way of testing the pay load connectivity (voice quality) which is independent from the radio network performance.